The East Lyme police busted Curtiss “Nipps” Nichols on an informant’s tip in November 2007. He was strapped with a .25-caliber auto pistol, brass knuckles and plenty of cash when the cops picked him up at the Lyme Tavern. When they searched his home, police found an assortment of different guns, a bunch more drugs and an IED booby-trap device, whatever that means.

That’s one hell of a resume, but the most interesting part of the story gets buried.

In the second-to-last graf, we learn this little factoid:

Most of the weapons seized from Nichols will be destroyed, with the exception of a Benelli shotgun and two Bushmaster Rifles, which will be turned over to the East Lyme Police Department at the department’s request.

I know very little about guns, but a little research shows that Bushmaster rifles, are pretty f-ing serious. And Benelli shotguns, apparently, are no joke either. I think it’s unusual that the cops can just keep these seized weapons. To be clear this isn’t a gun-control argument (though, I do think having fewer, not more, assault rifles in the world is probably better than not). The police must be pretty certain that the guns were never used in any crimes, but I wouldn’t mind finding out just how common this is.

3 responses to “East Lyme Police Department: “Hey, if you’re not using that…””

Bushmaster Rifles are the proper tools that ought be owned by all freedom loving Americans. What a disgusting world we live in that people sneer at the very concepts that once made this country great.

And while I am no fan of cops, nearly ever police department in America has AR 15 style rifles. But I would be willing to bet the Benelli spends most of its time in some cops duck blind than anything else.

Meanwhile, no thought is given to the fate of a man jailed for selling a product in demand to customers. No wonder our economy is going to hell.

I love freedom, and I would probably love it more if I owned an AR-15. The thing that seems weird is that the cops can just take ownership after the guns are seized. Is there a law that prescribes? Also, I wonder what they did with the drugs…